Gene Simmons Weighs in On U.S. Immigration Policy

No matter the subject, you can always pretty much count on Gene Simmons having some thoughts, and the political climate pertaining to terrorist attacks and the United States' immigration policy is no exception.

The Kiss co-founder weighed in during a recent fundraising event for Technion Canada, pausing for a few moments on the red carpet to speak with Canadian Jewish News. During the segment, which you can watch above, Simmons refused to offer much of an opinion either way, although he did point out that violence seems to be on the rise around the world, and illegal immigration is an issue that voters will eventually need to deal with.

"The people of Europe and South America and, of course, the Middle East – the people who live in the countries where they elect officials, if they are lucky enough to be in a democratic system – have to decide for themselves what the immigration policy is," Simmons argued. "In America, there are almost 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants. I’m not giving you my opinion, but that is either going to continue, or it’s not. There is either going to be a ban on some countries and their immigration, or not. The people are going to have to decide."

Simmons' estimation of the undocumented immigrant population is certainly up for debate, and although he attempted to stay nonpartisan in his answer to the question, he added a parting shot on the subject, seeming to suggest that those who argue for more open borders may not be seeing the situation clearly. "The Pope said something very astute. He said walls are inhumane and not nice," Simmons added. "Except the Vatican has a nice, big wall around it for the same reason."

As no shortage of people have noted, the wall around Vatican City — which isn't closed — was built to ward off invaders, long before illegal immigration was a major concern, but that wasn't mentioned during Simmons' interview.

"They want to keep people out. They don’t want everyone coming in," he continued. "Isn’t that interesting? How about that?"